FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Jazz - 8/3/2020

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The Lakers finished the first half of this game with a 58-56 lead.

The star of this half was Anthony Davis, who came in determined to make up for his subpar performance against the Toronto Raptors. He finished that game with 18 points but finished the first half of this game against the Utah Jazz with 22 points, shooting 8 for 17 from the floor. He also managed to get two steals and grab seven rebounds.

LeBron James ran the floor well as he typically does. He finished the first half with six assists, eight points, and three rebounds. He hasn’t tried to score that much as of late, but in this half, The King used the paint the score all of his eight points.  Dwight Howard also managed to score seven points off the bench for the half. He caught an alley-oop from Davis, finishing the half 2 for two from the floor. He was 3 for four from the free-throw line as well.

Nobody struggled for the Lakers this half, but JaVale McGee, who played seven minutes and had his entire stat board filled with zeros. He did not play much and was mainly used to clog the paint, so it wasn’t that lousy a half for him when it was said and done. The major downside of the Lakers’ performance at this point was their three-point shooting. They were 2 for 13 from three this first half with the shot attempts being split up evenly between players.

Even though the Jazz finished the first half with just 12 assists, they came in with a game plan to pass a lot during each possession, which the Lakers struggled to keep up with. The Jazz shot 5 for 21 from three this half, most of the missed threes had players wide open after passes. Donovan Mitchell kept this half close, having 21 points off 6 for 13 from the floor. Other than him, the Jazz’s points were spread out evenly throughout the team.

The Lakers picked up some steam in the second half of the game, winning with a final score of 116-108. 

The start of the third quarter had Frank Vogel call a timeout after the Lakers allowed two threes not even two minutes in the second half. After that, Davis started to show off even more dominance. The Lakers went on a 19 to 2 run to end the third quarter, giving them a 10-point lead. The Jazz could not recover from that and did not take the lead for the rest of the game.

Davis finished the game with 42 points and 12 rebounds. He ended up shooting 3 for seven from beyond the arch and 46.4 percent from the floor. He was determined to make up for his performance against the Raptors, and that’s precisely what he did. James started shooting the ball more in the second half, finishing the game with 22 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists. It was an insanely efficient game shooting 56.2 percent from the floor.

Howard continued his excellent game, finishing with 11 points. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope picked up some steam this half, finishing with 9 points, 3 for six shooting. 

The primary reason the Lakers won this game was that they drastically improved their three-point shooting and defense in the second half. They finished the game shooting 34.6% from beyond the arch. At half time they were barely shooting 15% from three. James hit two threes, Davis hit four, and Kyle Kuzma hit two, which were all significant factors to this victory. The Jazz finished the game with 20 turnovers as the Lakers kept up with the rapid passing play style that the Jazz utilized to keep the game close earlier. 

The Lakers safely covered the odds as they were six-point favorites. They have clinched the first seed in the Western Conference and will face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. The game tips off at 3:30 pm pacific on ESPN.

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